Come ’round, gather around the campfire. What I have for you today is a tale so terrifying, so bone-chilling, that you’ll lie awake at night for weeks wondering just how something so horrible could even come into existence…
Okay, I don’t think anything I’ll write on this blog will ever be that scary, but the free iPhone app I discovered this week comes pretty darn close. The name of that app is Alpaca Niisan, or “Alpaca Brother” (also known as Alpaka Evolution on Android devices).
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| This cigarette-sporting alpaca quickly sets the tone of the game |
Alpaca Niisan starts off innocuously enough – players are presented with a single alpaca leisurely meandering around a green pasture, a pleasant, upbeat tune adding to the strangely-endearing quality of the slightly-ugly alpaca. But before long, more alpacas start to appear, and it quickly becomes clear that there is only one aim to this “game” – knock other alpacas out by tapping on them so your alpaca can absorb them, gain experience, and evolve into increasingly horrific alpaca hybrids.
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| The aftermath of alpaca-on-alpaca violence |
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| Your alpaca fusing with the bodies of its fallen comrades |
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| Macho level 2 alpaca |
Pressing the star on the bottom right corner will show you what level your alpaca is and provide a brief description about its current form. Alpacas respawn even when the app isn’t open, so it’s important to keep checking it frequently in order to level up quickly.
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| Getting into nightmare territory… |
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| Sorry if you wanted to sleep tonight |
Now, if you’re already following me on Twitter, you’ve probably noticed that this app is literally all I’ve been talking about for the past week (if I’ve subjected you to that and you’re still reading through this post, thanks for being such a trooper). The reason for that is that it’s both horrifying and horribly addictive! Not only that, but I’ve gotten my husband into it, as well, so whenever I forget to check on it he’ll enviably do some alpaca fusing for me. So what exactly makes this creepy-cute game so addictive? It’s hardly even a game – all you do is tap the screen!
Well, I’m certainly not the only person who finds Alpaca Niisan amusing, as it’s quickly become one of the most popular apps in Japan (it’s good to know I’m not the only weirdo out there…). I think everyone who tries it quickly develops a morbid curiosity to see what will happen next – just what will the monstrous alpaca evolve into, and how will each form move around and interact with the other alpacas on screen?
Since half of the fun is discovering the crazy forms your alpaca evolves into for yourself, I’ll refrain from posting some of the later (and even more disturbing) evolutions. Alpaca Niisan is currently available for both iOS and Android devices worldwide. For some reason the title hasn’t been translated for the iOS version (nor the app itself, for that matter, but you definitely don’t need to understand Japanese to enjoy it), so find the game on an iOS device paste アルパカにいさん in the search bar of the app store or view it here online. Android uses will find the game under Alpaka Evolution on their device or the online Google Play store. Note: These instructions apply to the North American Google Play/app stores, so the name of the app may be different depending on your region
Oh God. Nightmare fuel. I may have to try this.
I’ve been loving these Alpaca tweets of yours :P.
I have a question… Is there like, an obsession with alpacas in Japan lately or always? Recently the game Paca Plus came out (and like two sequels or something) which revolve around a guy’s girlfriend magically becoming an alpaca. Then I looked around and have seen some Vocaloid music created about the animal….. Then some recent Harvest Moon iteration added the breed to your farm…. Now this app. XD
OK, this makes me happy I don’t currently own an iOS or Android device. You weren’t kidding when you called it the stuff of nightmares. Ack!
Let me know what you think if/when you do! 😉
I’m glad you’ve been enjoying them! I’ve been getting a major kick out of this thing (as you can probably tell, haha), but I’m beginning to get worried that I’m tweeting about it a tad *too* much?
I definitely think alpacas are a thing in Japan right now. I couldn’t tell you why, but the past couple of years have seen a huge surge in alpaca goods/characters. I wonder if it’s something about their weird yet adorable features? Japan loves weirdly cute stuff (Funghi comes to mind, haha)
And speaking of Paca Plus, I really want to try that! I had no idea there was more than one, though…
Hope you’re not too scarred, Bryan! >_< It is totally weird, but I find it even weirder that I’m so compelled to play it. I think it’s safe to say that this is the app I’ve put the most time into since getting my iPhone back in October!
This comment at the google play store made me laugh: “If you’re okay with weird things and Tetsuo’s transformation in Akira then you’ll enjoy this.”
Man, I wish I had an android phone now. This is definitely my cup of tea. :>
Haha, I love it! That’s a very apt description!
You don’t have an iPhone or iPad, either? Remember, it’s available on both, just under a different name!
Oh my god, this is amazing hahaha XD
Nah, not a fan of Apple and their products have insane prices without offering anything dramatically advanced that would justify paying so much for them…
I’m planning to buy an Android phone some time later this year or early next year tho, just have to wait a bit longer for this (and all those otome games, hurr durr). 🙂
Awesome 🙂 I love that it’s seemingly gone viral, too.
Fair enough! I only have an iPhone because it was a hand-me-down, actually.
You’ve reminded me that I really want to do a mobile otome game post! There are certainly plenty of them 😉
Seemingly so! I definitely didn’t expect it to be this popular!
It seems to crash for me on iPhone, most reviews say so too – must be a recent update. Bah!
Oh no! I haven’t played in a while so I don’t have the latest update. Hopefully they fix it soon.
After searching some forums I found out that if you activate aeroplane mode and disable Wi-fi it works fine, and it does! YAY!
Awesome! That’s a very strange fix, but at least it works!
Any one figure out how to get the rare forms? I keep geting the same one
Hello, there! I beat the game. It gets creepier and creepier, trust me. If you’d like to know anymore, I’d be glad to share with you. I don’t have screenshots because I didn’t know how to do it on my phone, but I can give details if you’d like to add that to your post. ^_^
Oh, wonderful! I haven’t been playing recently but I know they updated with new forms, so I should really get back to it. Would you mind giving details on how to get the different forms? I’d love to include it! Thanks 🙂
How do I eat the humans I finished the game so now I can become a rare by eating the humans but how?